On a tragic day in June of 1989, the life of 30-year-old Cynthia Lou Herrera Means was violently cut short in Muskegon Heights, Michigan. A Hispanic female, Cynthia was discovered brutally murdered in her mother's home on June 15th. The scene was one of immense violence; Cynthia had sustained 27 stab wounds. Her mother, 48-year-old Linda Lou Herrera, was also found slain, having been shot once in the chest and stabbed 15 times.
A handgun that had jammed after a single shot was found concealed within a couch at the residence. The grim discovery was made by Cynthia's brother, Celestino Dean Herrera, who had to cut through a screen to enter the locked house.
Initial suspicion immediately fell upon Cynthia's estranged husband, Leon Means, who was a fugitive at the time, having recently escaped from a prison transport van. He was apprehended and charged with two counts of murder for the deaths of his wife and mother-in-law. However, in a turn of events that would leave the case cold for decades, the charges against Means were dropped in September 1989 due to what was deemed insufficient evidence. While prosecutors had hoped to build a stronger case, Means was sentenced to a lengthy prison term for his escape. For years, a cloud of suspicion also hung over Cynthia's brother, Celestino, an emotional burden he carried for a quarter of a century.
Decades passed, and Leon Means was eventually paroled in 2010. Justice for Cynthia and Linda seemed elusive until October 2014, when the murders of two other women, 63-year-old Anna Lawson and 62-year-old Judy Bushman, in Muskegon Heights led police back to Means. Following his arrest for these new crimes, Means confessed to the 1989 slayings of his estranged wife and her mother. In 2015, facing overwhelming evidence, Leon Means, then 62, pleaded no contest to two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Cynthia Herrera Means and Linda Lou Herrera. He was already serving a life sentence for the 2014 murders. The plea brought a long-awaited, albeit somber, conclusion for the Herrera family, finally seeing the man responsible for Cynthia's death held accountable more than two decades later. He was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years for each of their murders.
